


Origin

by stellarparallax



Series: Secrets of the Ishval Civil War [2]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Ishbal | Ishval, Ishbalan Character(s) | Ishvalan Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 17:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11109036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarparallax/pseuds/stellarparallax
Summary: Woman in the front lines, on the ground, the one who only does what is told and never makes her own decisions -- for all the decorations and ranks, Riza was nothing but a pawn. But for the first time in almost a year, she acted on her own. She dragged her commanding officer away from the battlefield even after she was given the order to escape, leaving him for dead. His matted raven hair was sticking to her cheek and his mouth was close enough to her ear that she could hear his laboured breathing. His chest swelled and collapsed inward almost violently against her, which made her tighten her grip around his waist.





	Origin

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution for Royai Week for the prompt "Chess". Go to http://royaiweek.tumblr.com for more information on Royai week and to see other contributions made to it. 
> 
> I didn't have time to thoroughly edit this so I apologise in advance for any mistakes.
> 
> Note: Lena is an original character from another fic that I wrote in this series called "Sugar Puff".

Woman in the front lines, on the ground, the one who only does what is told and never makes her own decisions -- for all the decorations and ranks, Riza was nothing but a pawn. But for the first time in almost a year, she acted on her own. She dragged her commanding officer away from the battlefield even after she was given the order to escape, leaving him for dead. His matted raven hair was sticking to her cheek and his mouth was close enough to her ear that she could hear his laboured breathing. His chest swelled and collapsed inward almost violently against her, which made her tighten her grip around his waist. 

“Stay with me, Mustang, we’re almost there,” she muttered like a prayer.

The only response she got was his muffled groans as she pulled his feet across the dusty wasteland that remained where the beautiful picturesque Ishval once stood. 

The medical tent was in sight, and she had never felt such overwhelming relief in her life. She pulled Roy’s limp body closer to herself as she prepared for the last few strides before she finally could hand him over to either Dr Rockbell. She hoped that their hands weren’t too full of cases that Roy would have to wait too long to be treated. With her free hand, she tilted his chin upwards so that she could check his colouring. He was so pale. She brushed his hair out of his face, her hand lingering longer on his cheek than she was allowed by the military to. Without thinking, she pressed her cheek against his forehead. One second. Two seconds. Then, she pulled her face away.

“Ri...za,” his voice was scratchy and barely audible, but it was loud enough to send a chill running through her.

“Stay with me.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Riza pulled away the tent flap, revealing rows of beds. All of them were occupied, and many of them held patients that were in such critical state that it could only have been due to a miracle that they were alive. She looked around before her gaze finally fell on a young girl who couldn’t have been older than fourteen. She was leaning over one of the beds and changing the wet towels of the patient. As if on cue, she looked up at Riza and gasped.

“Goodness, he doesn’t look good. Can you bring him to the next tent? I’ll be there quickly,” she said.

Riza nodded and did as she was told.

The girl from before stumbled into the tent and for the first time, Riza saw that she was missing a right leg. Poor thing, she thought reflexively, before silently admonishing herself. That girl wouldn’t be considered a full-grown adult by any stretch of the imagination, and she was already capable of treating the sick and wounded and nursing them back to health. There was nothing to pity her about. In many ways, she was Riza’s superior.

“Doctor,” she unbuttoned the shirt of his uniform and peeled it back to reveal a mess of ripped and frayed fabric that she had reduced his undershirt into to use as a bandage, “He was stabbed here.”

“Do you know if the blade broke off inside of him?” she brought her face closer to the wound, looking for any signs of metal debris.

“I’m pretty sure it didn’t. The man pulled out the knife almost as soon as he pushed it in. I don’t think he even twisted it.”

“Good. That makes things a lot less complicated. I’ll get my things and I’ll be back. Try to keep him awake.”

“Doctor, wait,” Riza stood up, “What happened to the Rockbells?”

The girl’s gaze fell to the bottom left of her eyes, “They aren’t here anymore. Please, call me Lena. I’ll be back.”

Before Riza could protest, Lena had already left the tent. She looked over at Roy whose eyes were still open, but his face was so serene that he may as well have been asleep. She took the seat by his bed and gently placed her hand in his. He squeezed it reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you yet,” he whispered.

She tilted her head to the left, her eyes narrowing in on his lips. The tent wasn’t exactly for public view, but Lena could come back any second. Still, she couldn’t help but stare at them, hoping that this wouldn’t be the last chance she had to kiss him. She looked back into his eyes and saw that he had a knowing look in them that indicated that he was feeling the same way. Still maintaining eye contact, she squeezed his hand twice. She leaned her head forward, but as soon as she did, she heard the rustling of the tent flap.

“The good news is that I have enough alcohol and surgical suture to clean and stitch up the wound. The bad news is that I’m fresh out of morphine.”

“That’s fine,” Roy said, offering her a weak smile.

“Okay, then I’ll start the procedure. Uhm…,” she looked at Riza.

“Riza.”

“Okay. Riza, please wait outside.”

Riza’s eyes shot straight back to Roy, who nodded slightly. She squeezed his hand once again before letting go and leaving the tent.

She hadn’t realised that it had been raining, and pretty heavily. As she stepped out of the tent, she was met by a downpour that almost immediately soaked through her clothes and weighed down her hair. She looked around for shelter that wasn’t the few tents filled with patients, but the rain obscured her vision. She looked down at her feet, resolute in not leaving Roy’s side even if she had to stand in the rain for the rest of the night.

“This way, Ma’am,” her head shot up and looked around for the owner of the voice, finally settling on an elderly-looking man. He was waving her over.

She came closer to him, her fingers caressing the grip of the pistol in her holster. He led her to another tent, except this one was smaller and for people to sleep in, rather than the large medical ones that she had seen. He pushed back the tent flap and invited her in. As she entered the tent, she noticed that there was a black-and-white checkered board sitting in the middle of the tent.

“Care for a game, Ma’am? It’ll take your mind off your sick friend.”

She walked over to take a seat on the side with the black chess pieces. The man reached out and grabbed her arm before she reached that spot.

“No, dear, you’ll be playing white.”

She nodded and moved over to the side with the white chess pieces. She picked up her pawn on H2 and moved it to H3. 

“Cautious,” the man commented, “This will be interesting.”

He moved his pawn from G7 to G5. Without hesitating, she moved her pawn from H3 to H4. He looked up and stared right into her eyes as he moved his pawn from G5 to H4, taking her pawn off the board.

“Tell me, does it make you feel better to let an Ishvalan take one of your own?”

Riza moved her pawn from E2 to E4. 

“Now, we’re talking,” he said as he moved his pawn from F7 to F5.

Riza picked up her queen and put it on H5. It was an unnecessary action, really. Both of them were already fully aware that i would be her next move. The man threw back his head and laughed heartily.

“Wonderful, Madam!” he exclaimed as he put all of the pieces back at their starting pieces, “I’ve lost and you’ve won and everything is going to plan!”

“Going to plan?”

“You don’t actually think that this war was necessary, do you?”

“I think that we’re fighting for what each of us believe is right.”

“Do you believe that your side is right?”

Riza couldn’t answer. What she wanted to say that she only joined the army to protect someone she cared about and she had believed that he was right. Surely, this was what he had in mind. She didn’t want to entertain the possibility that it wasn’t. 

“My dear, war doesn’t determine who is right -- only who is left.”

Riza couldn’t take her eyes off the dark-skinned man, her thoughts only interrupted by the sound of the tent flap flying open. She wondered who it was, but she simply couldn’t look away from him. 

“Riza, your friend is fine now. Would you like to see him?”

Her thoughts were a warzone and the battle of territorial to fight for her eventual decisions was long and hard, but as she looked at the man before her, all the pretense and ideation melted away. In its wake it left something seared into her mind -- doubt.

“Sir, what is your name?” she blurted out before thinking.

He shrugged, “Some people call me Hohenheim.”

She nodded, acknowledging his response but unwilling to commit to a verbal reply. She turned to Lena, who was still holding the tent flap open and followed her to where Roy was. When she entered, she released a breath that she didn’t realise she was holding and went to him.

“How are you, Colonel?”

“Fine, Lieutenant. Especially now,” his hand had found its way to the stretch of skin between her ear and her cheek, his fingers dragging along until they met the starting point of her cheek, “This isn’t anything that I don’t deserve.”

“Colonel?”

“This was a mistake.”

Both of their eyes were brimming with tears and suddenly, it didn’t matter who saw them any more. Riza bent over and put her arms around his neck, burying her face into his hair. His right hand was rubbing the small of her back and his left hand rested on her right bicep. 

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Riza. These really are our sins to bear, aren’t they?”

Riza didn’t feel the need to answer.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this till the end! Please leave kudos if you liked it, and feel free to comment. As usual, you are welcome to talk to me on tumblr @ http://word-spielen.tumblr.com


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